Chapter Highlights: Michigan Chapter

The APALA Michigan chapter hosted the last APALA National Executive Board Meeting in Detroit, MI on December 15-17, 2017 at the United Auto Workers building. This was the first full board meeting with the newly elected officers and members for 2017-2019 where the National Executive Board strategized on APALA's work to come for the next 25 years. Prior to the meeting, APALA Michigan hosted a Community and Labor Reception, where attendees heard from local labor, community, and government leaders. The meeting concluded with a tour of the home of Asian American activist Grace Lee Boggs and an intimate conversation with her close friends.

The Fight for Our Undocumented Community

​In November, the organizing and mobilization efforts of DC chapter members were integral to the AAPI Mobilization to Demand a Clean DREAM Act, where over 120 Asian American and Pacific Islander DREAMers and allies convened in DC for trainings, a rally, an action, and legislative visits. APALA National President Monica Thammarath, National Executive Board Members Johanna Puno Hester and Luisa Blue, Executive Director Alvina Yeh, APALA staffer Kenneth Gonzales, and former Executive Director Gregory Cendana were 6 of 19 participants in a civil disobedience action that ended up in their subsequent arrest and release. We also thank NEA President Lily Eskelsen Garcia and AFSCME Secretary Treasurer Elissa McBride for speaking at our rally earlier in the day, and we give a special shout out to our partners the National Korean American Service and Education Consortium (NAKASEC) and Asian Americans Advancing Justice. Check out the video of the civil disobedience to the above and more photos here.​​

Founded in 1992, the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA), AFL-CIO, is the first and only national organization of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) workers, most of whom are union members and our allies, building power for AAPI workers and communities.